Caldwell in bid to make history at Cliftonhill
IT IS hard to say what is more surprising: that Albion Rovers have a director of football or that the club have a link to Ferenc Puskas and Alfredo Di Stefano.
But through David Caldwell they have both, with the former professional footballer the man who is charged with steering the strategic vision of the club.
It is a sign of the ambition and professionalism at Cliftonhill that they have such a structure in place as they look to realise their long-term aims. The boost to their bank balance from this Sunday’s Scottish Cup tie with Celtic will aid Caldwell in that mission.
But it is the chance to make sporting history that motivates everyone at Rovers from the boardroom to the boot room, and Caldwell in particular is keen to add to his own family collection of impressive sporting memorabilia.
“My dad played for Aberdeen and he got a league championship in 1955 and played in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup against Celtic and ended up with a runners-up medal,” Caldwell said.
“I was brought up in Canada briefly where my dad played with Stanley Matthews and played against Puskas and Di Stefano. We’ve still got the programme.
“I think it was the first time Stanley Matthews and Danny Blanchflower had played against Puskas and Di Stefano. It would be nice to add the programme from this weekend to the collection.”
Caldwell himself is no stranger to pulling off a cup upset in his own playing career that took him from the Highlands to Belgium via Mansfield, Torquay and Chesterfield. It was while in England that he enjoyed his own moments as David slaying Goliath.
“I got to the fifth round of the FA Cup a couple of times,” he said. “Torquay was a sort of Roy of the Rovers story, because we played Bristol City and I scored the winner in the 83rd minute, then we got Coventry, who were the holders, in the next round.
“Cyril Regis scored a couple of goals and they ended up getting Liverpool in the next round. We also beat West Ham 1-0 once and progressed through.
“The cup is brilliant, the league is sort of like your day job, and the cup is where you have the glamour ties.”
It may be churlish to suggest that there are those within the Rovers corridors of power who are quietly hoping for a draw rather than a win to secure a replay at Celtic Park and the further riches that would bring.
But Caldwell would not be too upset, shall we say, were that to happen.
“If you put footballers out there they will be looking to win, but if they get a draw it would be great too,” he admitted.
“The most important thing is that we approach it professionally and enjoy it, because there has been a lot of hard work in the background to make sure that the day goes well.” T IS fitting that Celtic’s tentative steps towards the third leg of a domestic treble should come against Albion Rovers in the Scottish Cup this weekend. As the Parkhead side unveil a series of events this summer to mark the 50th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions and their 1967 triumph against Inter Milan, Brendan Rodgers will look to deliver a modern-day success story in keeping with Jock Stein’s philosophy.
Stein oversaw the most successful years in Celtic’s history, the apogee of which came when the club became the first British side to win the European Cup. His playing career began at Albion Rovers, where he spent eight seasons, and Rodgers is well aware of how large a shadow he casts over any subsequent incumbents of the Celtic managerial seat.
Other than Stein, Martin O’Neill is the only other Celtic manager to win a domestic treble – Stein won two – and while Rodgers will do his utmost to protect his players from absorbing the pressure that accompanies that expectation this term, his own belief is that he carries a responsibility to deliver a style of play that embraces the attacking culture that was celebrated by his great predecessor.
“It was incredible what Jock did, when you see the story of where they were beforehand,” said Rodgers. “He was way ahead of his time, along with the [Bill] Shanklys of this world.
“I was fortunate to have grown up with Celtic and I was aware of what he did and the background to it. But to come in to the club and see it all firsthand, to see what he achieved, his philosophy and how he managed the players, is great. He also managed to inspire those players over 15 years. To strive and have the energy to do that... he was some manager.”
Rodgers attended a commemorative night for the Lisbon Lions in the Kerrydale suite at Celtic Park last month, an event that left such an impression that he called upon the current players to appreciate the magnitude of the achievement.
“They won five trophies that season, playing 60-odd games, a fabulous achievement and I took that back and shared it with our players,” said the Celtic manager. “The will the Lions had to keep going, to keep fighting; it was sensational, really.
“John Clark is here on a daily basis, of course, so I see him all the time and Bobby Lennox occasionally. I sat next to Stevie Chalmers that evening and I’ve met Billy McNeill from time to time. They are the reason I’m here – I’m here because of them, the guys who created this great history.”
Rodgers’ Celtic side are within two games of levelling the record set by the Lions of 26-games unbeaten at the start of a season. And while Rodgers is reluctant to bury his head in the record books, he is hungry to oversee a Celtic side who deliver success by playing in a certain style.
“For us, from my first day here, it is promoting the philosophy that you win in the best way you can, that you break as many records as you can and win as well as you can,” he said. “You fight and defend the culture of the club and all these aspects come into it.
“But I never drown under all the stats and what it means. For me it is about preparing the team for the next game, as boring and unromantic as that is. That is the job.”
And while there is inevitable chat about a treble given that the League Cup and effectively the league are already won, Rodgers has not given any big pep talks to his players about performing a clean sweep this season, opting instead to soak up any of the expectations that surround the club.
“I tend to depressurise the players,” he said. “I take the pressure and I have no problem with that. But I depressurise the players in order that they can go and perform.
“I think there are so many things going on, especially in the modern game where there can be so many things going on – media, social media, everything – we narrow the focus on performance.
“Because the consequence of performing is that you win games and then maybe that brings all the other things you talk about. You think about it bit by bit and we set targets; qualification for the Champions league, done. League Cup, done… next thing is what? Title. Can we win the title?
“Then there are performance goals in that. Goals we score, goals we concede, can we be ruthless in terms of records that are out there, be the best that we can be?
“If you do that then everything else happens naturally but don’t worry about the fantasy side of it.”